Your gift to help blind Alaskans counts twice thanks to Lions

By KARLA JUTZI

Published: 2013.01.30 11:00 PM

Aren’t we fortunate as Alaskans to be able to plan on a Permanent Fund Dividend check again this year? As you apply for your PFD between now and the March 31 deadline, remember that you can choose to give some of it to the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired and more than 300 other charities serving our neighbors.

You can double your gift this year if you decide to help the 13,000 Alaskans whose lives have been disrupted by low vision or blindness. The Mt. View Lions Club has pledged to match donations to the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired up to $5,000 over and above the Center’s 2012 total. Lions truly are Knights of the Blind, as Helen Keller inspired them to be!

One client who lost much of her eyesight abruptly after a stroke told us, “The training I received from the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired helped give me the strength to move on with my life and helped me to understand that there are no limitations to what I can do.”

At the Center’s Anchorage facility and in homes and communities statewide, we offer low vision clinics, training in new ways to do things when people can no longer depend on their sight, and employment services. We teach Alaskans how to access computers using audible or enlarging software, read Braille, travel independently with a white cane, and manage daily life. With help from the Mat-Su Health Foundation, we now have a staff member in the Valley.

Pick. Click. Give. makes it easy for you to connect with causes you care about. Even little gifts have a big impact because many Alaskans are coming together to give.

Every dollar donated goes directly to the charities.

And this year you can donate once to the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Mt. View Lions will double your gift!

Learn more about the Alaska Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired at www.alaskabvi.org or facebook.com/alaskabvi. Or use Pick.Click.Give. as an opportunity to involve your children in learning to give. Explore charities with them at pickclickgive.org. You can find more activities of Alaska Lions at 49A-Lions.org.

Karla Jutzi is Executive Director of the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

This page requires javascript. It seems that your browser does not have Javascript enabled. Please enable Javascript and press the Reload/Refresh button on your browser.